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Haryana BJP averse to tie-up with INLD Two district-level BJP leaders quit party Haryana farm women get only 40 days’ work Training in breeding plans for farm animals |
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Jind, February 2 Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said the government had sanctioned a bypass for Jind city. Demand for bypass was long overdue. Bypass in the city would ease traffic situation in the city.
Help eradicate social evils, students urged Padam Shri awardee G.P. Chopra, president of the DAV College managing committee and the Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Sabha, New Delhi, yesterday called upon students to get value-based education and help in eradicating social evils which had started creeping into society again. High Court Avedna in hospital
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Haryana BJP averse to tie-up with INLD Chandigarh, February 2 According to informed sources, the 19-member core group included all five BJP MPs from Haryana, party President, Ganeshi Lal Leader of the Legislature party, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Ram Bilas Sharma, a former Minister; and several office-bearers of the state unit. The sources say Mr Naidu told the Haryana party leaders that while the high command would keep their views in mind, it would get its own survey done in the state to know whether the alliance with the INLD would be beneficial or not. Earlier, the core group of the Haryana BJP had met the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in Delhi and conveyed its feelings against the alliance with the INLD. The state leaders are believed to have told Mr Advani as well as Mr Naidu that even if the party entered into an alliance with the INLD the latter would make every effort to see the BJP nominees defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. Similarly, it would be very difficult for BJP workers to motivate the party voters to vote for the INLD candidates. The sources say the state leaders told the senior party leaders that by contesting all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state on its own, the BJP would not only be able to expand its base in Haryana but also win more seats than it was expected to get in alliance with the INLD. The sources say the party in charge of the Haryana affairs, Dr Harshwardhan, too, is believed to be sharing the perception of the state leaders. In view of the stiff opposition by the state unit, the high command, the sources say, is in a quandary. The high command, they say, feels that even if it forced the state unit to enter into an alliance with the INLD, it would be virtually impossible to convert the alliance into a reality. |
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Political scene hazy Chandigarh, February 2 The Congress is waiting if the BJP’s alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) will continue or not before finalising its strategy. It is also waiting if the BSP will agree to have an alliance with it. The Haryana unit of the party has virtually washed its hands off the process of selection of candidates by authorising AICC President Sonia Gandhi to do so. The Congress, despite all conclaves, seems to be keeping alive its age-old tradition of selecting the candidates at the last stage. The rank and file of the party feels that precious time before the run-up to the elections could be used for canvassing by the prospective candidates if the party had finalised their names immediately after the NDA Government had hinted at an early election. The BJP is as confused as the Congress is. Its state unit does not know if the high command will respect its sentiments on not continuing the alliance with the INLD or force the alliance down its throat. The INLD is blowing hot and cold in the same breath on its alliance with the BJP. Its leadership leaves no opportunity to humiliate state leaders of the BJP. But when it comes to the national leadership of the BJP, the INLD is humble. The ruling party in Haryana, it seems, does not want to take the first step towards breaking its ties with the BJP. Its leaders say in private that the stakes for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections were much higher than those of the INLD. Therefore, the BJP would have to continue the alliance with the INLD and that too at the latter’s terms. Informed sources say the INLD is determined to contest six Lok Sabha seats in the state. In 1999, the two parties had contested five seats each. In the past whenever the BJP had contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the INLD or its earlier incarnations, the party got three or four seats. However, in the last elections, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, who had come to power following the BJP’s withdrawal of support to the Bansi Lal Government, did not want the relations between the two parties to be soured. He agreed to leave the fifth seat for the BJP following intervention of Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Sources in the INLD say this time Mr Chautala is keen to get back the Sonepat seat, which had been traditionally contested by his party. This would not only restore the old equation but also deny Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, the sitting MP, an opportunity to retain the seat on the BJP ticket. Mr Sangwan, who was earlier an INLD MP, joined the BJP after the Sonepat seat was allotted to that party. The relations between Mr Sangwan and Mr Chautala had soured during the 12th Lok Sabha. Despite the assertions by the Chief Minister that the Assembly elections would be held on schedule, the state continues to in a flux on the issue. The state BJP feels that if its high command insisted on continuing the alliance with the INLD, the latter would go for early Assembly elections. Otherwise, the Chief Minister would like to complete his term of five years. On the other hand, INLD sources insist that alliance or no alliance with the BJP, the Assembly elections would be held only next year. Another player in the state politics, the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), says it would not enter into an alliance with any party for the Lok Sabha elections. But political observers feel the party would not be averse to an alliance with the BJP or the BSP if the two parties did not enter into poll arrangements with the INLD and the Congress, respectively. |
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LS poll crucial for Bhajan Chandigarh, February 2 “Of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, the Congress may not get more than three seats. Had there been someone else in the saddle, the tally would have been more”, grumbled a Congress functionary opposed to Mr Bhajan Lal. In the event of the Congress doing well in the Lok Sabha elections, it may be a feather in the cap of Mr Bhajan Lal strengthening his chances of becoming the Chief Minister if the party emerges victorious in the next Assembly poll. Mr Bhajan Lal is not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha poll sending out a message that he is the Congress’ candidate for the Chief Minister’s post. This is precisely the reason why his rivals were keen on his removal before the Lok Sabha poll to prevent him from taking credit for the party’s performance. Congress functionaries opposed to the PCC chief say the victory of the Congress candidates from Rohtak and Sirsa seems fairly certain emerge. The Congress candidate from Mahendragarh may also image victorious. While Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader and an arch enemy of Mr Bhajan Lal, is expected to be the Congress candidate from Rohtak, Ms Selja, a former union minister who, too, is a known Bhajan Lal detractor, is likely to be the Congress nominee from Sirsa. Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Congress Deputy Leader in the Assembly, and Rao Inderjit Singh, MLA, are strong contenders for the Mahendragarh set . While Rao Inderjit Singh is aligned with other anti-Bhajan leaders, Capt Yadav, too, does not belong to the Bhajan Lal camp. Mr Bhajan Lal claimed the Congress would win all ten Lok Sabha seats from the state. Asked whether the state election committee had sent any list of prospective candidates to the AICC, Mr Bhajan Lal replied in the negative, saying that Ms Sonia Gandhi had been authorised to choose candidates from Haryana. His opponents say the probable Congress candidates for the Ambala seat will be no match for Mr Rattan Lal Kataria of the BJP, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, President of the All-India Youth Congress and Mr Jai Parkash, MLA and a former union minister, are in the race for the Hisar seat. It is being claimed that if Mr Surjewala is given the ticket, followers of Jai Parkash will not vote for him. Other seats also face similar problems, say dissidents. |
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Two district-level BJP leaders quit party Sirsa, February 2 According to information party workers alleged that the credibility of the BJP in the state had suffered because of the functioning and policies adopted by the state president. In protest against his style of working these workers resigned from offices and primary membership of the party. These resignations are being sent to the party high command, informed Mr Krishan Lal Saini. Those who have resigned, included the former president of Market Committee Sirsa and formers president of Sirsa BJP Krishan Lal Saini himself and vice-president of the party and Municipal Councillor Ratan Bala. When contacted district president of the party Jaimal Singh called it a wrong step. He said that the allegations against the state party president were baseless. On the other hand the president Prof Ganeshi Lal said that he had no personal policy to implement and he worked only for the party. If anyone felt dissatisfied with the party’s policy instead of leaving membership he should offer suggestions to improve things, he added. |
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Haryana farm women get only 40 days’ work New Delhi, February 2 In Dhamar in Rohtak district, women agricultural workers get sugarcane leaves instead of wages for harvesting of sugarcane. According to a recent study carried out by the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), kind
payments constitute about 73 per cent of a woman’s wage in agriculture AIDWA general secretary and member of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (M), Ms Brinda Karat told TNS that the study by its research wing has inferred gender discrimination in terms of access to livelihood opportunities. The study covered 445 landless manual worker households in Dhamar in Rohtak district and Birdhana in Fatehabad district. The average annual earnings of women workers were very low in absolute terms (Rs 1839 in Dhamar and Rs 1584 in Birdhana) compared to earnings of male workers (Rs 6162 in Dhamar and Rs 6626 in Birdhana). This is certainly a cause of concern as women earn four times less than men in both the villages. The AIDWA research team headed by Prof Vikas Rawal of Jawaharlal Nehru University, has observed that a woman manual worker, on an average, found employment for only 40 days in a year. In
comparison, an average male worker found employment for about 100 days in a year. The researchers further reported that almost all work done by women was paid in piece-rated wages. “Women were seldom hired on daily-rated work. Even when they were, they were not paid any standard daily wage.” The research team observed that women’s participation in agricultural labour in Dhamar was closely linked to their work in animal husbandry. “A substantial part of women’s labour was paid only in terms of fodder. A woman worker typically collected about two bundles of sugarcane after working for about four hours. Various other fodder commodities were also paid as wage goods. Animal husbandry was largely women’s work. Women had to labour on the fields to earn fodder,” the study has inferred. In Dhamar, landless households often obtain cattle through a peculiar kind of lease agreement. Women of such households labour for three years to bring up a buffalo calf belonging to somebody else. When the calf grows up, the owner quotes a price for it. “Although the lessee household had the formal right to buy the calf at half the quoted price, these poor households seldom had enough money to buy it. The contract allows the calf owner to take the buffalo for half the price,” the study points out. Commenting on the findings of the report, Ms Karat said, “The calf owners are exploiting women in several States. On just one transaction of the buffalo, the woman faces so much exploitation. Women in the village are even willing to work for kind. Because of
their huge increase in fodder process, they are willing to accept a bag of potato leaves which has no market value.” Ms Karat says that the picture is not rosy for women in other states either. AIDWA has done similar studies in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jarkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh. She says that the alarming economic condition of women in rural India is due to shift in the pattern of labour hiring. |
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Training in breeding plans for farm animals Karnal, February 2 Eighteen dairy scientists had come from Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttaranchal to participate in this advanced study programme in animal genetics and breeding. It aimed at providing the latest know-how on various animal breeding methodologies for selection of animals on organised breeding farms and under rural household conditions. Dr B.K. Joshi, head of the dairy cattle breeding division of the NDRI, said the main thrust of the programme was on advances in animal breeding methodologies for identification and faster multiplication of superior germplasm and developing optimum breeding plans for improving the animal productivity and profitability with respect to 15 agro-climatic zones of the country. Dr Joshi said the training had provided a scientific forum for discussing the present status and future perspectives on conservation and genetic improvement of farm animal genetic resources in the country. Advances in emerging biotechnologies in the areas of animal genetics, reproduction and current issues on domestic animal diversity and management had also been introduced in the programme. Genetically modified or transgenic animals offered opportunities for production of human
proteins of pharmaceutical value. Several such proteins had been expressed using different animal models. Techniques of embryo biotechnology such as embryo transfer, invitro fertilisation, cloning and transgenesis held great promise for genetic improvement and faster multiplication of superior
germplasm. |
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Bypass for Jind city approved Jind, February 2 Mr Chautala said that all roads in the city would be repaired and streets in all wards of the city would be paved. He sanctioned rupees two lakh for each ward for the pavement of streets. Mr Chautala said a sewerage water treatment plant would be set up here at a cost of Rs 36 crore. He said that encroachments would be removed from public roads and foot paths constructed along roads of the city. He said Kisan Bhavan would be constructed in the new grain market and sheds provided in the vegetable market. Mr Suraj Bhan Kajal Chairman, Finance Commission, Haryana, Mr Ram Kumar Katwal, MLA, Ms Sumitra Devi, Chairperson, Zila Parishad, Jind, Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Jind and Mr Manjit Singh Ahlawat, superintendent of Police were present on the occasion. Today Mr Chautala presided over a meeting of District Public Relations and Grievance Committee at the local DRDA Hall and redressed 11 complaints. Later Mr Chautala laid the foundation stone of the building of the fire station at Jind. Later Mr Chautala visited villages of Jind Assembly Constituency under the Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar programme and sanctioned several irrigation and development projects. He asked villagers to pay electricity bills of tubewells. Mr Surinder Singh Barwala, MP, Mr Des Raj Nambardar, Chairman Khadi Board, Haryana accompanied Mr Chautala. |
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Leaf from History AMBALA: Government College, Ambala
Cantt, is a unique institution because of its historical background. While the college itself is barely five- year- old, the college campus can trace back its history to 1890. Interestingly, in the past 11 decades, the college has undergone four metamorphoses with the initial one being a school. Hindu-Mohammedan High School is considered to be the first school of Ambala Cantt. The school was forgotten till the chance discovery of its foundation stone during the renovation of the college building. The foundation stone of the school was laid by Capt J.H.Parson, the then Cantonment Magistrate, in 1890. His Highness Bikram Singh had contributed handsomely for the school building. The foundation stone has been placed in a college room. Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij, who was instrumental in the setting up of Government College, said Hindu-Mohammedan High School was the first institution to be run from the building. “After that, the Cantonment Board took over and they started Cantonment Board School. This school is better known as CB School,” he said. A large number of the alumni of CB School were doing well in various fields, he added. Then, Government Senior Secondary School was started in the same building. “Government College was started on the same campus five years back. In effect, the same place has witnessed four transformations and all the time it continued to be a place for learning,” Mr Vij said. Dr Gurdev Singh of Government College, Ambala
Cantt, said the foundation stone of the Hindu-Mohammedan High School was found when the old building was being dismantled in 1998. “While there were a few rooms initially, we now have nearly 30 rooms. Government College is spread over seven acres,” he said. He observed that the college has an old sundial on its campus. “The sundial was in a dilapidated state but we have got it repaired. It gives precise time,” he said. He added that nearly 1,500 students were studying in the college in MA,
M.Com, BA and B.Com. — TNS |
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Help eradicate social evils, students urged Kurukshetra, February 2 Mr Chopra was addressing the gathering at the annual prize distribution function of DAV Public School, here. He said the coming generation of students would bring positive changes in society through their education. He appreciated the contribution of Maharishi Dayanand in uprooting social evils prevalent in society at that time. He said Maharishi Dayanand had found illiteracy to be the root cause of all social evils and that was why he had laid stress on the propagation of education, especially of women. Mr Vijay Sabharwal, secretary, DAV, CMC, and chairman, local managing committee, welcomed the chief guest. The school Principal, Ms Anita Rawal, read out the annual report. The school students presented a colourful cultural programme. |
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High Court Chandigarh, February 2 Taking up his case, Mr Justice S.S. Saron of the high court observed in an open court that the matter would be decided by Panchkula Judge without being influenced by the pendency of the petition before the high court. Blaming the in-laws for levelling false allegations against her, the petitioner had submitted that the two, after obtaining stay orders, were constantly threatening her and her father to withdraw the complaint. Describing the allegations as serious, the petitioner had submitted that as per the first information report, the Hoodas had demanded Rs 60 lakh from her parents.
Students’ plea On a petition filed by 21 students of a high school in Mahendergarh district for quashing an order passed by the Haryana School Education Board cancelling their candidature for matric examinations, a Division Bench of the high court has issued notice of motion for February 9. In their petition taken up by Chief Justice Mr Justice B.K. Roy and Mr Justice Surya Kant Sharma, the petitioners had claimed that the order was passed in December last year. |
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Avedna in hospital Ambala, February 2 Zakir Husain and Avedna Sharma had surrendered in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ambala, on January 10 and since then they are in judicial custody in Ambala Central jail. Recently a local court had dismissed their bail applications. Two days back, Avedna requested the jail authorities to check her health as she was not well. They referred her to the Civil Hospital. Avedna is being kept in the general female ward. Two police constables, are deployed outside. The doctors attending on her refused to tell about her ailment. The parents of Avedna came to the hospital this morning to meet her, but were turned back. It is to be mentioned that Avedna Sharma, a resident of Ambala cantonment, had disappeared from the Ludhiana railway station on August 15 last when she was on way to Vaishno Devi along with her husband on the second day of her marriage. The father of Avedna had complained to the police that an assistant engineer in the Punjab Wakf Board, Zakir Husain, had abducted her daughter. But Avedna appeared in the Punjab and Haryana High Court stating that she had married Zakir by her own will after adopting Islam. |
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